Panel assemblies may be used in a number of applications, such as walkways, catwalks, flooring (e.g., temporary aircraft runways), shelving, and interior and/or exterior walls of containers and dwellings. In many applications, the components (e.g., the individual panels) of a panel assembly are fabricated at one location, and then transported to a distant point of use where they are later assembled. Alternatively, fabrication and assembly of the individual panels may be conducted at the same location, followed by shipping the final assembled article to a distant point of use and optionally further assembly.
As transportation of either the individual panels or the assembled panels to a point of use and/or further assembly is typically required, reducing the weight of the individual panels and/or the panel assembly is generally desirable for purposes of reducing shipping related fuel costs. Weight reduction is also desirable for purposes of improving the ease of handling the individual panels, and the final assembled article.
Weight reduction may be achieved by fabricating individual panels from plastic, rather than heavier materials, such as wood and metals. The individual plastic panels, and in particular assemblies thereof, typically must, however, possess physical properties, such as strength and load bearing properties (e.g., static and non-static load bearing properties), that are at least equivalent to those of the original panels (e.g., metal panels). Molded plastic panel assemblies are typically prone to failure at the points where the panels are joined together, when subjected to loads, and in particular non-static loads, such as oscillating loads. To improve physical properties and to reduce the occurrence of load related joint failures, the individual molded plastic panels of the assembly are typically fabricated so as to weigh at least as much as the original panels (e.g., metal panels) they were designed to replace. To further improve physical properties, the molded plastic panel assemblies typically include a redundancy of fasteners, such as screws and/or bolts, at the points where the panels are joined together.
It would be desirable to develop molded plastic panels and assemblies thereof that have reduced weight relative to equivalent panels and assemblies fabricated from heavier materials, such as metals. It would be further desirable that such newly developed molded plastic panels and molded plastic panel assemblies also possess physical properties, such as static and non-static load bearing properties, that are at least equivalent to those of equivalent panels and assemblies fabricated from heavier materials, such as metals. Still further, it would be desirable that such newly developed molded plastic panels be easily and efficiently assembled to form molded plastic panel assemblies.